I've now had a chance to see the 1924 score for this.

I am not convinced that it really is anything to do with alchemy, or with Dee (in spite of the Prague library catalogue tagging it as such).

The story is much more akin to the Sorcerer's Apprentice sequence in Fantasia.

A summary is as follows. I can't transcribe the whole work as it is still in copyright. The copyright is owned by the 1924 publishers Schott Musik, who are still in business.

A young man approaches (for the 4th time) the Sage, and pesters him again for the magic secrets that will give him his desires.

The Sage again warns him that he is looking for the wrong thing. "Did I not bid thee to aspire to more exalted things? What thou dost long for only brings diappointment, Ay, and danger too. Be wise! renounce this plan. Wealth and fleeting pleasures to pursue, through control of hidden powers".

In the end, though, the Sage gives in and gives the Young Man the names of potent herbs, and a spell, and tells him to go to a glade at night when he can call up an Elemental. He warns him, though, that he will only be able to control the Elemental for an hour, and that "so vast a body of unresting power doth he contain that if thy brain cannot devise labours enough for him to do, thee thyself will he devour, till not a hair of thee remain"

In the Second Scene, the Young Man throws the herbs onto a fire and chants the spell. The Elemental appears, and the YM successively asks for "gold, enough to last till old", "Jewels by the score", "a palace, never matched by humankind", a dozen knights, and so on. After each request the elemental presses him to ask for another task. The YM becomes more and more frantic trying to think of new things.

In Scene Three, the YM rushes back to the Sage's cottage, hotly pursued by the Elemental, anxious to devour his flesh. The Sage tricks the Elemental by giving him a dog and instructing him to straighten out its tail - a never-ending task, as the tail always curls again. Eventually the Sage makes a gesture of banishment & the Elemental disappears in a flash.

The YM sees the error of his ways and realises the futility of chasing after earthly things. The Sage confirms this "For know within thyself is ev'ry bliss. And he who chases after joys without must miss the very thing he seeks Yes, his own divine and blissful soul, at one with all humanity"

Genuinely remorseful and understanding of the error of his ways, the YM begs the Sage to "teach me thy most wondrous art". The sage accepts him as one of his disciples.

I am not an expert in alchemical symbolism, but it seems to me that the range of tasks set by the YM for the Elemental are not specifically alchemical, and the whole is more concerned with ritual magic.
 
Alan


Best wishes
Alan Pritchard MPhil FCLIP
Tel: +44 (0)1202 417477